


Dream a Little Dream of Me

by miceenscene



Series: Harvey & Naomi [5]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, The Author pretends she knows anything about medical care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27044677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miceenscene/pseuds/miceenscene
Summary: Harvey wouldn't say that he's haunted... though there is substantial evidence to the contrary. Hopefully, Naomi won't mind.
Relationships: Harvey/Female Player (Stardew Valley), Harvey/Player (Stardew Valley)
Series: Harvey & Naomi [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549033
Kudos: 41





	Dream a Little Dream of Me

Wet asphalt shimmered under the pale light of the moon. Wind whistled through the trees, clacking bare branches off each other in delicate dischordance. Up ahead the road curved around a bend, disappearing out of view. It could have been any mountain road, but Harvey knew exactly which one it was. He’d only been there once in person, but had returned for visits often in his dreams… or rather, his nightmares.

They were always the same, not even dreaming could his brain be terribly creative. Though it’d been several years since he’d had this particular dream. Why now, he wondered as it began the way it always did with the slick road and the mountain bend. 

He walked forward. Out of habit or expectation, he wasn’t quite sure. But he always walked.

The hubcap was always the first piece he saw. It lay in the center of the road, innocuous to anyone who didn’t know what was coming. But Harvey knew. Still he pressed on. A few steps further were the broken remains of a bumper. Coming around the bend now, the whole scene came into view. The shattered remains of a vehicle were sprinkled across the slick highway. A door here, a muffler over there. The glass always sparkled like the sea under a full moon.

Finally, up ahead were the remains of the car. Turned sideways across both lanes, its roof was half-caved in from four complete rollovers–if Harvey was remembering correctly. He usually did. Still he walked forward. He had to.

Without any hesitation, for he already knew what he would find, he approached the wreck, glass crunching under every step. He walked around the back side, picking his way amongst the twisted detritus. The moon ducked behind clouds, casting the whole area in shadow. Bracing himself, he approached the driver’s seat and leaned down to look inside. It was a moment before the clouds parted. Harvey froze.

The positioning was the same. She was upright, head lolling back at an unsurvivable angle. But it wasn’t curly red hair streaked with blood, it was black this time. The freckles were gone too, just one beauty mark on her upper lip. The eyes, open and vacant, weren’t hazel, but warm brown. It wasn’t Mona in this car. It was Naomi.

His grip tightened on the doorframe as every muscle in his body locked up. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t look away. He just had to stand there and stare at the face of the second love of his life, dead.

Harvey’s eyes opened, and he inhaled abruptly, as if coming from deep water. He struggled up to sitting, throwing the duvet completely off his bed in the fight. Just the peaceful quiet of his apartment surrounded him. Not a sound to be heard beyond his own pulse thudding in his ears. 

He rubbed the palms of his hands against his eyes, as if he could wipe out the image that was now seared into his brain. It was just a dream,  _ just a dream _ , he reminded himself.  _ Or a very real possibility _ , a very dark voice hissed from inside him. A slight tremor in his hands answered the voice.

Determined to not let that voice get anymore words in edgewise, he turned and put his feet on the frigid floor, gripping the edge of his mattress to stop the tremor. Several deep breaths later, the tremor stopped though the image remained.

Four in the morning was rather early to start his day. The patch of sky he could see through his tiny kitchen window was still completely dark. He probably should try for more sleep. But just glancing at his pillow sent him rising to his feet and skittering to the other side of his apartment. Coffee. He needed coffee. Coffee would make this morning salvageable. Coffee would keep him from dreaming again.

Maru wisely refrained from commenting about the larger than average bags that had gathered under Harvey’s eyes as she came in for her shift several hours later. Even better, the village stayed away for most of the day, leaving the clinic quiet and peaceful through the afternoon. Maru left at her usual time, turning over the open sign on her way out, but Harvey didn’t go upstairs. Exhaustion dripped out of every pore in his body, but he found menial task after task to keep himself occupied down in the clinic, dreading the thought of attempting sleep again.

It was only as he was sorting through expired prescription samples in the back supply closet that he realized that Naomi hadn’t stopped by that day. She’d been by everyday since Winter Star the week before. Perhaps it was for the best. She’d want to know why he looked so tired, and he didn’t want her to worry for him. She’d probably be by tomorrow. Hopefully, he’ll have slept by then.

The sound of the digital chime on the front door sounded. Harvey looked up from his sorting. Visitors after hours were never a good sign.

“Doc! DOC!!” A voice hollered from the lobby. Harvey rushed out of the back supply closet, throwing open the door.

“What hap–”

For one breath, the world froze as in Linus’ arms was Naomi, unconscious and bleeding. The scene was instantly carved into his mind, every detail perfectly recorded. The pallor of her face, the uncomfortable angle of her head, the rips in her shirt. A drop of blood dripped off her finger, and Harvey heard it splash against the floor. Then all at once everything resumed, every edge razor sharp and ready to slice through him.

He ripped the emergency stretcher from the wall and set it on the floor.

“Put her down,” he ordered, helping Linus to keep her head from hitting the tile. 

Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, mouth working silently around a word. She was half-conscious again, good. 

“Stay calm, Naomi. You’re going to be fine,” he assured her in a rock steady tone. She drifted back away. Between Linus and Harvey, they quickly carried her back into the examination room.

The next ten minutes passed by in a focused blur. Harvey felt both that he was in total control and completely removed at the same time, as if somehow he’d been split into two people. Harvey was having trouble breathing back in the lobby, but Dr. Daniels was making sure his patient was stabilized and cared for.

At the end of it, he blinked and stepped back. Naomi was stable and as far as he could tell, would be just fine. The nasty gash along her hairline had required some surgical glue, but otherwise her injuries had been minor. His main concern was her continued lack of consciousness.

A few seconds later, however, she inhaled sharply. Life twitched in her muscles and expanded her chest. Her eyes slowly blinked open, and Harvey watched her first few lucid seconds without breathing. No apparent light sensitivity, and her pupils were a normal size–a good start.

“Naomi?” he asked, and she immediately looked his way. Reaction time normal as well. “How do you feel?”

“Sore… tired… headache, but otherwise okay,” she answered, her voice rough around the edges. No nausea was a good sign, and her speech wasn’t slurred. If this was an actual hospital, he’d still order a CT scan at the very least. The approximately ten minutes of lost consciousness was very concerning. But this was just a country clinic, so he had to do this the old fashioned way.

“Can you move your fingers and toes for me?” he asked, moving down the mental checklist. She did as he asked and all twenty moved normally. Another good sign. Maybe she’d just walk away from this with a concussion. Not great, but better than a cranial hematoma.

“Harvey–” she started in a gentle tone, but stopped when he held up a hand.

“Let me finish.” His next breath slipped out shaky, but he clamped down and the words remained sure. “Let me finish this and then… okay?”

She nodded. 

Back to business, he moved to the next item on the checklist. “Do you know where you are? Who the mayor is?”

“I’m in Pelican Town, and Lewis is somehow still mayor.”

Good. Finally, “Do you know what happened?”

She thought for a moment, a frown crossing her features. “I was in the mines. And a… swarm of bats came out of nowhere. I ran for the ladder, but before I could get to a higher level, I fell… and then I woke up here.”

That seemed in line with her injuries. Everything combined with her seemingly accurate memory of the event were all very good signs, he reminded himself. “You’re lucky, most of your other injuries were minor. And while the concussion appears to be mild, it should still be treated seriously. I’m going to keep you here for the next twenty-four hours for observation, and we’ll set up a recovery plan before you leave. Any questions?”

She shook her head. “No.”

He turned and set down her chart on a nearby cart, and all at once, a switch was flipped. He took in a very shaky breath and then another somehow  _ more _ shaky breath. The tremor he’d contained the night before was suddenly unleashed through his hands. It was only when he heard a soft groan from Naomi behind him that he quickly turned around. 

She’d sat up in the bed and was leaning back against the wall. Half of him was about ready to order her to lie back down. But she patted the empty space next to her, and he found himself drifting towards her without any conscious choice to do so. 

Careful not to jostle her, he eased down into the space next to her on the bed. He didn’t look at her at first, just at his trembling hands gripping his knees. After a moment, she reached over and took his hand, intertwining their fingers. Her thumb stroked slowly across the back of his hand. 

For several minutes they didn’t say anything, just sat together. She was here. She was going to be fine… probably–no,  _ she was going to be fine. _ No matter what his dreams tried to warn him.

Eventually, she lifted up his hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “I’m sorry I scared you,” she whispered.

He sighed and looked towards her now. “You shouldn’t have to apologize after an accident.”

“I’m still sorry.”

They sat in silence for a little longer. He should explain why this had shaken him so badly, beyond what she’d probably already guessed.

He squeezed his eyes shut and let the truth slip out between his teeth. “I’ve had nightmares exactly like this,” he admitted, so quiet that he almost couldn’t hear himself. She squeezed his hand tightly. “After… losing Mona… and you… you mean so much to me, Naomi. I don’t know what I’d do if I was the final line of defense between you and death and I failed–”

She cut him off by reaching over and pulling him into a ferocious kiss, stopping him dead in his tracks before he could wander further down that fear-lit trail. He pulled her as close as he could to himself with the way they were sitting. It was awkward, but so desperately needed. 

She pressed her forehead to his, the bandage covering most of her skin. “You haven’t lost me. And you didn’t fail.”

“We don’t know that yet. Without an MRI, I can only make a judgement call about the severity of your head injury.” A small voice reminded him that he wasn’t being a very good doctor right now. But he wasn’t a doctor right now. Right now he was just an extremely fallible man in love. “But this is just a country clinic. Our X-ray machine is older than I am!”

She cupped his cheek as he sucked in a breath, screwing up his face to try and get a hold of himself again. He wasn’t very successful.

“I can’t give you the best care possible…  _ and that terrifies me _ ,” he whispered, his throat gone raw. 

The silence resumed and filled the little spaces between them for several minutes. Then Naomi whispered, “Harvey.” 

She waited to say anything more till he’d opened his eyes to look at her. With how close their faces were, he couldn’t see anything but the warm brown of her eyes. There was a small ring of gold around her pupils.

“I promise I’m doing my best to be cautious and careful,” she said in a slow, willfully steadied voice. “But you’ve already had to patch me up a few times before this. My life requires more risks than just sitting at a desk would. And that’s not going to change.” She sucked in a breath, and he was heart-broken to see a tear roll down her cheek. “If that’s not something that you want to live with, then I–” A ragged gasp. “I understand.”

He lifted his head now, eyebrows knitting in concern. “What?” he breathed.

“It’s okay.” She shook her head and sniffled, looking away. “Really. I understand if you don’t want–”

“ _ Naomi _ ,” he said fiercely, drawing her attention back to him. He cupped her jaw and kissed her again, tasting the salt of her tears. Only when they’d subsided did he stop. With his forehead still pressed to hers, he closed his eyes and just let the words fall out of him. 

“ _ I love you _ …” he admitted, trembling slightly for so many reasons he couldn’t name them all. “I– I know it’s too soon to say it. I know. But it’s true. And it’s the exact reason why no matter how terrified I was this evening, for one second I never considered being apart from you.

“I know that you’re careful, I trust you. Just… tonight I had to face some of my deepest fears. But I don’t want to lose you in any way at all.”

Her chin was still wobbling, but she seemed to be making a valiant effort to hold back any more tears. “I don’t like scaring you,” she insisted in a shaking voice.

He pulled her in to cradle her in his arms, kissing the top of her head. “It was an accident, a part of life. You’re going to scare me again… probably more than anyone else ever has or will in my entire life.” He leaned to catch her eyes. “But I don’t want to miss a second of it.”

She was a bit of a wreck, all surgical glue and tear stains,but she was breath-takingly beautiful to him at the same time as she gave him a very gentle smile. She cupped his cheek and kissed him softly.

“I love you too,” she whispered, making his world suddenly explode into big band swing and fireworks once more. “Even if I scared you twice this evening.”

He tucked her back under his chin, safe again. “Heh. Well, two down… the rest of our lives to go.”

There was a momentary lull, then she asked quietly, “The rest of our lives?” And Harvey suddenly realized how completely he was showing his hand. Blame it on adrenaline.

“Wow, I am really jumping the gun here–” he started, a hand yanking through his hair.

She sat up enough to look at him. “Did you mean that?”

Her expression was open, but devoid of a guiding emotion on how he should phrase the next few sentences. So he clung to brutal honesty and hope. “I–I don’t want to scare you. I know for most people these things take time–heck, for me it usually takes… a  _ lot _ longer than it has. But just… I’m here, Naomi. I’m here for as long as you want me. ...That’s all you have to know or worry about for right now.”

“...you know me pretty well.”

“I’m trying.”


End file.
